It won’t take long for that number to reach the $14.3 Trillion “Debt Ceiling,” raised by Democrats in Congress and President Obama early last year to satisfy–temporarily–their unquenchable thirst to spend our money!

The debt continued to rise under George W. Bush, but has skyrocketed under Obama. Since taking office, the amount you, I, and every other American owes has increased 40%! That’s a 40% increase in only two years! Thanks to CBS (You won’t hear that very often here!) for the following graphic that shows the unbelievable increase in US government red ink.

Now they want even more! Democrats are demanding Republicans in Congress raise the debt ceiling, but Republicans have promised to draw a line in the sand–saying they will not vote to raise it unless a plan is put in place to “significantly reduce federal spending and unfunded government liabilities on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare,” according to the CBS article.

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, calls the Republican demands for real spending cuts, “playing chicken with the debt ceiling.” Goolsbee accurately points out that failure to raise the debt ceiling will cause the US government to default on its obligations–if it continues to spend more money than it takes in.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a Tea Party Republican, staunchly opposes raising the ceiling. “Instead of raising the debt ceiling and giving ourselves an excuse to delay the inevitable, let’s start working on solutions,” she said in a November press release following last year’s mid-term election. She calls on Congress to “tighten the country’s purse strings as we work to put our country back on track.” Bachman says “cuts have to be made” because our children’s future is at stake. “We aren’t going to find financial stability by allowing ourselves to fall further down the rabbit hole,” the Congresswoman points out.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is not ruling out an increase, but promised to block it unless meaningful spending cuts are tied to any increase, according to the Daily Caller. Coburn says he has a list of $350 billion in spending cuts that he wants to see before he will vote for a debt ceiling increase. Coburn called $350 billion “a good starting point,” but also stated he believes it is possible to cut enough that raising the debt ceiling won’t be necessary.

‘The American people think the budget ought to be balanced, even taking hard choices, even with some personal sacrifice on their part,” Coburn said. “So I don’t think it’s impossible for us to cut enough government spending with which we don’t have to raise the debt limit. I think we can do that.”

One thing is certain. We cannot afford to keep doing business as usual. It’s time to cut government spending!